Until Dawn One Shots

Everyone - Secret Santa

I have emerged from beyond the grave! It's been a fat while, I'm so sorry, my personal life has been super super hectic and its been hard to be motivated to write. This particular story has been sitting in my drafts for probably two years. I keep wanting to publish it around Christmas time but then not writing, and then I sat down today and just had a crazy wave of inspiriation and knocked out like 4000 words. Anyway, if y'all can find it in your hearts to forgive me, I'll really appreciate it. Thanks! Hope you enjoy!

- Grace, out 😘💙 

Every December, the group does Secret Santa. Or at least they try to, but every year, it fails miserably. Hannah always ends up accidentally telling Beth and Sam who she has, Josh always spills the beans to Chris, and Jess and Emily always tell each other as soon as everyone else leaves the room. Soon Matt and Mike know too, and then give in and share their Secret Santa too. By the time presents get opened, everyone knows who got who anyway. So, every year, the debate comes up whether they should even do it.

"We have to!" Sam always says. "It's more fun that way!"

"What's the point though?!" Emily will argue. "It's not even a secret by the time we do the gift exchange!"

"But it's not a real Christmas if the group doesn't do Secret Santa," Hannah finishes, always putting on her best puppy dog pout and furrowing her brows. As soon as that oh so sorrowful look crosses her face, Beth, Josh, and Chris jump in to back her and Sam up, leaving Emily outnumbered as Matt, Mike, and Jess eventually, albeit sheepishly, agree with them.

"Ughh, fine."

This year, they devise a plan to make sure no one tells anyone else.

"Every time someone is about to spill the beans, they have to start humming 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas', and the other person has to run." Mike says. "They have to run very far away,"

Everyone agrees, even Emily, although she does get in a very exaggerated eye roll. Sam writes everyone's names down on small pieces of paper, and they all go in Matt's cap. Hannah draws first, and she goes to open it, but Beth stops her.

"Wait until we all have our names, so we can all look at once and then split,"

One by one, they all draw, and Chris counts them down.

"One...two...three..."

Quickly, everyone unfolds their paper, and then in unison, everyone except Emily starts humming. She throws up her hands in exasperation.

"For fucks sake. I just want to point out that the one person who didn't want to do this is the only one who doesn't want to spill," she shouts over her corner as she exits the room. Everyone else quickly follows, speed walking their separate ways in fear of blurting out their gift receiver. Hannah and Beth hesitate before getting in the car with Josh, and suddenly loud rock music comes blasting out of the Washington car as it peels away. Chris and Sam watch it speed away before walking to their own cars.

"This is going to be a very long couple of weeks," she shouts out to him. He only smiles tightly in response, before waving and climbing into his car. Sam climbs into her own car and unfolds her little piece of paper again, reading the name she neatly printed on it. The cogs in her mind start turning.

The group ends up avoiding each other for the next couple of weeks. Every time Hannah sees Sam in the hallway, she starts humming wildly, and Sam's eyes widen as she swiftly turns and runs away, earning strange looks from other students in the hallway. Josh and Chris can't watch any of their movies together because the minute Josh sits down, Chris starts humming really badly off key. Josh basically trips down the stairs in his effort to get away. The day after drawing names, Emily and Jess go shopping together, but they only just step foot in the first clothing store when Jess starts jogging her foot and humming. At first Emily protests, but when Jess looks at her so urgently it's as if she's about to pee her pants, she stalks away, grumbling the whole time. Matt even gets asked by a mutual mate if he and Mike are pissed with each other, to which he laughs them off, nervously casting a glance at Beth, who just happens to be walking by. She smirks, before quickly moving on when Matt suddenly starts to hum. Ashley straight up goes MIA, not responding to texts, sitting as far away from her friends as she can in class, and heading home straight after school. Chris tries to check up on her and make sure she's at least okay, and eventually gets reassurance, if slightly confused, from her mum, who states;